Skip to main content

tv   News 4 Today at 430  NBC  June 21, 2012 4:30am-5:00am EDT

4:30 am
d.c.'s department of parks and recreation is keeping several pools open for longer hours this week. alexandria also extended hours at a number of its pools. prince george's county opened six cooling centers to help people without air conditioners, and metro is relaxing its no drinks policy during the heat wave. riders can bring water only on buses and trains today. >> everyone wants to know just how high the temperatures will go today. >> that's right. it is brutal out there! sticky and downright gross, tom. >> is it okay to wear flip-flops with a business suit? >> you know, we would let you do that just for today. >> as long as there's no socks. i mean, just saying. >> it's okay to go barefoot, even. >> maybe. >> except on the pavement. oh, man, the pavement was just sizzling like a skillet yesterday afternoon when we soared to 98, came within one degree of the record, but now yeah, it is a steamy, muggy morning. right now reagan national is at 79. it is near 70, though, in much of the rural areas around the region, in maryland, virginia
4:31 am
and into west virginia. some locations in the 60s, central shenandoah valley, the 60s. so a pleasant start this morning, although the air is thick with humidity, and we're going to stay steady here, in the low 70s, mid-70s, for another hour or so. then it's going to rapidly jump as the day progresses, thanks to deep high pressure. and as a result, we've got a heat advisory until 10:00 tonight. the afternoon heat index 100 to 105, like it was yesterday. it again includes all of northern virginia, just about all of maryland, including the district and the eastern shore, except western maryland, shenandoah valley, points west. the higher elevations are always cooler, and certainly this type of weather. we've got this deep high pressure over us circulating. we've got a hazy, clear sky right now. "day planner" for this thursday. it will be in to the mid-90s by noon and then peaking near 100 degrees by mid-afternoon. by late afternoon, back down to the mid-90s. so a hot and very uncomfortable day on the way. i'm back in ten minutes with another update.
4:32 am
danella's here now with a look at traffic. good morning. >> good morning. right now i'm watching road work in the area, starting out in virginia. here's a live look traveling northbound i-95 at backlick. you can see the cones are up taking up the left side of the roadway. it will force you to stick to the right as you continue toward franconia-springfield parkway. now, your travel speed, though, is not bad, because you have light volume. you're at about 64 miles per hour from quantico, that drive taking 23 minutes. looks really good. connecting on to 395, no issues there. here's a live look at edsall. you can see northbound lanes nice and open, southbound as well. northbound heading to the 14th street bridge, 59 miles per hour. that drive is just a 12-minute drive. i'm also seeing construction along i-66 eastbound at nutley. i'm taking a closer look in ten minutes. eun and richard, back over to you both. >> all right, danella, thank you. today closing arguments will begin in the jerry sandusky child sex abuse trial. that means jury deliberations could start this afternoon. the defense rested yesterday without calling the former penn state assistant coach to the
4:33 am
stand. instead, defense lawyers closed their case with character witnesses who talked about the sandusky they knew. chad rexrode and david hilton described a caring father figure who changed their lives for the better. >> there are well respected people in the community who still stand by jerry. that's really all they did, and i don't think that will overcome the testimony of the eight victims who came and testified. >> sandusky is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year span. he has denied the charges. a d.c. man accused of killing his wife in their georgetown home is due in court today. police say 48-year-old albricht muse strangled and beat viola draft to death last summer. she was a well-known journalist and d.c. socialite. the trial has been delayed due to questions of mental health. doctors said butte could be competent after treatment. it will be decided next week
4:34 am
whether eric holder is held in contempt of congress. a house committee yesterday voted to cite holder for contempt for his refusal to hand over documents related to the botched arms operation known as "fast and furious." earlier in the day, the obama administration used executive privilege for the first time to keep those documents secret. the full house must now vote on the contempt citation. that vote is expected next week. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will head west to campaign for mitt romney. he's expected to speak saturday evening at a romney fund-raiser in utah. mcdonnell's just one of several influential republicans who will be at the two-day retreat. wisconsin congressman paul ryan, former florida governor jeb bush and current louisiana governor bobby jindal will also be there. the obama campaign is accusing mitt romney of rooting for the u.s. economy to get worse. the obama campaign spokesperson says romney is harping on bad economic news in hopes of improving his chances at winning this november. a romney spokesman calls the
4:35 am
accusation ridiculous. a possible snag in efforts to expand gambling in maryland. a work group failed to reach an agreement on whether to recommend adding a casino in prince george's county. governor martin o'malley had said he'd call a special session to address the issue if the 11-member group could reach a consensus on how to expand gambling in the state. this latest development means that plans to build an mgm casino at national harbor are on hold, but the company says it is still committed to the project. the company released a statement, which reads in part, "given the opportunity, mgm resorts would help maryland create thousands of new jobs, help to diversify the maryland economy and generate millions in new revenues." major questions this morning from the family of a man killed in a shoot-out with police in maryland. take a look at some cell phone video. it shows the intense scene on laurie lane in lanham yesterday as prince george's county police provided backup to a metro transit officer. metro says the officer was canvassing the neighborhood for a suspect in a possible attempted abduction at a bus
4:36 am
stop on sunday. at some point, witnesses say 44-year-old chester creswell rammed the officer's car and began firing. one person says creswell was a family man. >> we were at church sunday. he got an award sunday and got up to bible study and there was nothing out of character with him this morning. talked to him this morning and said he was going fishing. very uncharacteristic of him. i don't know what happened. they say the police came here and knocked on the door and they got into an argument. >> it is still unclear what sparked that argument. prince george's county police are handling the investigation. the prince george's county council woman who was pulled over for going more than 100 miles per hour on the beltway will get to keep her license. karen toles was convicted of reckless driving yesterday. a judge fined her a little more than $400 and gave her probation before judgment. that means she'll get no additional points on her driver's license and the incident will be wiped from her
4:37 am
record if she does not commit any traffic offenses for the next year. and a crash you have to see to believe. cars stacked on top of each other after a ten-car pileup in arlington. it happened on washington boulevard at the intersection of fleet road and volston. police say a reckless driver started the chain-reaction crash and was ticketed. one woman was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. washington boulevard was closed while crews cleared the scene, but it is back open this morning. quite a mess. >> yeah, that was not pretty. the time right now is 4:37. ahead on "news 4 today," more fallout from the trayvon martin case. the latest person to be disciplined following that deadly shooting. plus, some are ready to take a stand against rising gas prices and dump the pump. and we're already pushing 80 degrees outside, and it's only going to get hotter. meteorologist tom kierein looks at if we'll break a
4:38 am
4:39 am
4:40 am
temperatures already almost at 80. >> is this miami hot? >> this is hotter than miami hot. usually when you go outside in miami, there's a nice breeze, it's more comfortable. this, this morning, is like suffocating. >> it is. meteorologist tom kierein in the storm center to tell us about this record-breaking heat. do you think we'll reach a record today? >> i think we probably will. the record is 98 and we may exceed that by a degree or two. this will be hotter in miami. at least in miami they've got a breeze coming off of the ocean. and here this morning, all those areas in yellow are in the 70s. you can see there's a broad
4:41 am
area. the areas in green are in the 60s, so there is some comfort in the air this morning, a few pockets in virginia and maryland and a large area of western maryland, western virginia in the 60s right now as well as parts of the shenandoah valley. and around our region, closer to the metro area, right now it's in the mid and upper 70s around the beltway. look at reagan national, 79 degrees. new york city's 82 right now! here's your "day planner." sunrise at 5:43. by 9:00, the mid-80s. by noontime, maybe into the mid-90s throughout much of the region, then peaking upper 90s, near 100 degrees around 3:00, 4:00. then by 5:00, back down to the mid-90s. a look at a nice break coming our way at the expense of strong storms. your seven-day outlook is in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. well, checking out traffic as far as just construction slowing you down on i-66. let's start westbound at route 50. left lane is blocked by the road
4:42 am
work there, but volume is still very light. let's head over to the eastbound i-66, this time at nutley. looks like it possibly might be getting ready to pick up the cones here, but for now, your left lane is also blocked, eastbound i-66 at nutley. you have to stick to the right. but i can tell you, your volume's very light on i-66. not seeing too much of a delay at all. still driving at about 57 miles per hour, 11 minutes from fairfax county parkway to the beltway. i'm back in ten minutes with a look at the capital beltway. back over to you both. >> danella, thank you. 4:42 now, 79 degrees. still to come, trying to reassure the university of virginia community what the new president at the school is saying about his upcoming tenure. plus, on the lookout for a criminal accused of stealing an
4:43 am
4:44 am
welcome back at 4:44. theci thecityof sanford, florida,
4:45 am
fired police chief bill lee in the wake of the trayvon martin shooting. the city manager said sanford needs to move forward with a chief whom everyone can support. lee's department came under fire for failing to immediately arrest george zimmerman, the man who shot martin back in february. martin was unarmed. lee stepped aside temporarily, then tried to resign in april, but city commissioners originally projected that move. a d.c. man convicted in the deaths of a father and son faces life in prison. a jury found 27-year-old clis christian taylor guilty in the deadly armed robbery at the wholesale market on fifth street and northeast in june of 2010. ming chi and his son li jen chi died in the robbery. surveillance video of the crime was included in evidence in the case. he will be sentenced august 23rd. a judge upheld a negligence finding against virginia tech for the massacre there in 2007. the judge ruled yesterday that the school waited too long to warn students of the shootings on campus. the award for two families who
4:46 am
sued the school was reduced, however. each family will now receive $100,000 instead of $4 million. the families argue that their daughters could have survived if they had been alerted of the shootings earlier. police in potomac are investigating a drowning death. chopper 4 over the scene along kendale road. family members told police they found the man in a backyard pool when they got to the house. paramedics rushed him to the hospital where he later died. police say the man was 75 years old but have not released his name. investigators say it appears to be an accident. montgomery county police are looking for the person behind a bizarre restaurant theft. surveillance video shows this thief stealing used cooking oil. this was at the red rooster in damascus last month. the thief actually drove up in a vacuum truck, pulled out a hose, then started siphoning out the oil. the owner says the used cooking oil is worth about $200 and possibly three times as much to service providers who collect it. the university of virginia's new interim president is speaking publicly for the first
4:47 am
time. carl zeithaml says he wants to rebuild trust at uva. the school board of administrators named him this week after forcing then president teresa sullivan from the job. zeithaml, who had been dean of the mcintire school of commerce, says he opposed the board's decision to remove sullivan and does not plan on applying for the permanent job. >> didn't assume this role lightly. it was a difficult decision. but at the end of it, i have to say i felt like i had no choice. >> virginia's faculty senate is continuing its effort to get sullivan reinstated as president. local governments in virginia will receive state funding for transportation projects directly from the commonwealth. a state transportation board voted to bypass the northern virginia transportation commission. board members say they hope the move makes it more apparent how much state money goes to northern virginia transportation projects. the nbtc objects to the change and says it might actually make allocating state funds more
4:48 am
confusing. now, just because gas prices are dropping doesn't mean you can't dump the pump. today is national dump the pump day. the annual event sponsored by the american public transportation association is designed to encourage commuters to leave cars behind and try out a train or a bus for the day. the association says riding public transportation and downsizing to just one car could save $10,000 a year. if you decide to leave the car behind, a cab ride in d.c. will be a little cheaper this morning. the city's taxicab commission has dropped the $1 full surcharge that took effect more than a year ago. it expired at midnight. the commission says the falling gas prices convinced them to drop the fee but that they are willing to bring it back if prices rise again. so, let's hope they stay lower. >> yeah. whatever it is, cab, bus, train, just make sure the ac is cranked up today. >> that's right. let's take a live look outside right now. it is 78 degrees and we can feel every bit of that high temperature at this hour of the day. stifling, stuffy. it's going to be kind of gross out there.
4:49 am
>> yeah, sticky, too. >> it is. okay, well, we're going to check the forecast in just a minute, but we're going to tell you a little bit about the heathrow olympics and some of the efforts they're making out in london. some giant olympic rings are going to greet athletes and spectators when they arrive at london's heathrow airport for the summer games. they're apparently made of aluminum and they're huge, the size of a double-decker bus. >> yeah, and it's not too far away. the opening ceremony's on july 27th? >> july 27th. >> so a lot of excitement building already for that, and it looks like, hopefully, the u.s. can come out on top this time. >> there you go. opening ceremonies july 27th. you can watch all the excitement on nbc 4. the nationals are finally back in the win column. >> all right, well, the nats beat tampa bay. >> they beat the rays 3-2 last night to snap their four-game losing streak. stephen strasburg struck out ten batters in the win. the nationals remain in first place by three games. they take on the rays again
4:50 am
tonight at nationals park. and maryland football loves to make waves. got to love that. but when it comes to the football field, they are staying pretty traditional. the school released this rendering of the new field. the terps had considered going with a different color turf. a popular option online was black, believe it or not. could not see anything! but they decided to stick with green. the end zone with a bit of maryland pride. the school says it will be the coolest field in the country, literally. cool plate technology is supposed to make the surface 15 degrees cooler than other fields. i think it's a smart move that they kept it green, because remember when maryland changed their uniforms? everyone flipped out. they didn't like them. they thought it was too much of a change. i thought it was really cool, but we shall see. i think the field looks great. >> well, green is classic, so can't go wrong with that. let's check on the weather now because it is so hot, steamy out there, tom. >> yeah, really. there's a lot of mugginess in
4:51 am
the air this morning. the temperatures around the metro area are in the generally low to mid-70s, although reagan national, looking at 79 degrees. it's not even 5:00 in the morning. right near the bay, temperatures in the mid and upper 70s, but away from the waters, just 71 in calvert county. near 70 much of southern maryland, much of northern virginia and much of maryland, too, near 70 degrees. now, we do have the heat advisory in effect until 10:00 tonight. it includes all of northern virginia, the district, much of maryland. heat index by mid-afternoon, that combination of temperature and humidity, 100 to 105. and yes, another day, perhaps flirting with the record. yesterday, well, we missed the record by one degree, but today we may break that record or at least tie it. the record set on this date back in 1988 was 98. and by noontime, we'll be in the low to mid-90s with hazy sunshine, a few clouds popping up, and then hazy, very hot and
4:52 am
humid during the afternoon. again, yes, near 100 degrees by mid-afternoon. and then back to the mid-90s by late afternoon. sun sets at 8:37, and not much of a break from the heat and humidity this evening. we'll be in the 80s through the evening. then finally after midnight, dropping into the 70s. a lot of cloudiness tomorrow, so that will help cool it down, although still very humid. afternoon highs low 90s on friday. and a possibility of a morning shower, but more likely afternoon storms and perhaps in to friday evening. some of the storms friday afternoon could be severe with damaging winds and some very heavy rain. and then after that, we will see any lingering showers and thunder showers diminishing late friday night and ending early saturday morning. ah, setting the stage just in time for the weekend for some lower humidity and cooler temperatures saturday and sunday, partly cloudy. morning lows 60s. that will be pleasant. afternoon highs 80s with low humidity. and a pleasant start to the week, too, except monday. might get some scattered showers
4:53 am
and thunder showers around. then cooler after that, highs only near 80 on tuesday-wednesday, and morning lows, low 60s with very comfortable conditions midweek next week. i'm back in ten minutes with another update. danella's here now with a look at traffic. good morning! >> good morning, tom. right now i'm checking out the capital beltway. let's start in virginia, because here, as you make your way past robinson terminal towards brad yokz road, road work was set up in both directions of the beltway, inner loop and the outer loop. outer loop, in fact, earlier this morning had the exit ramps at braddock road shut down. should be reopened right now. the cones are up and the traffic is flowing nice in the area. let's cross over the wilson bridge and this time head to the beltway in prince george's county. inner loop at landover road, outer loop as well, travel lanes are open, light volume and no issues to report. even as you head to the beltway in montgomery county, here's a live look at university boulevard. again, look how light the volume is on the inner loop. outer loop a little bit, a little bit more heavy than the inner loop, but really nice
4:54 am
travel speed, no issues to report right now. i'm back in ten minutes with a look at your rails. now back over to you both. >> all right, danella, thanks. the time now is 4:53. kids aren't the only ones who face bullying at school. coming up, what a grandmother is saying after being tormented by students on a school bus. first it was coffee, then juice bars. now starbucks is venturing into a new type of business. plus, how one billionaire will truly own
4:55 am
4:56 am
4:57 am
the time is 4:56. a new report ranks the top-quality cars on the market. jd power & associates puts lexus first because it had the least number of customer complaints. porsche and jaguar tied for second and cadillac and honda rounded out the top five. overall, it showed most automakers improving quality. this year's survey did show a lot more customers reporting problems with car technology such as radio and navigation systems. starbucks isn't just for coffee drinkers anymore. tea lovers are getting a store of their own. the seattle-based cafe will open a tazo tea shop near its headquarters this fall. it will include a tea bar where customers can blend their own tease as well as tea lattes and iced teas. it's the move by starbucks to extend its reach beyond coffee. earlier this year they announced a plan to open an evolution juice store and also plan to sell their own single-cup coffee machine.
4:58 am
the shutdown of a local good humor means many ice cream cravings are going unfulfilled. the factory in hagerstown is closing this month. the parent company says that's contributed to a shortage of toasted almond bars and other flavors in ice cream trucks across the east coast. they're still available in stores. good humor says the shortage should ease up by the end of july. >> that's so sad! this time of the summer, you want the good humor truck to come by. this always park outside of the camps or baseball fields. >> they're still around? >> yes! oh, you can hear the bell. >> yes. >> you hear the little sound that they make and then all the kids come running up. yesterday i was picking up my boys from baseball and there was a line, way long. >> i've got to find out where this is, because i haven't seen it in a long time. >> i'll tell you where it is. >> all right. the man ranked by "forbes" as the sixth richest in the world is set to buy one of hawaii's main eight islands. >> must be nice. larry ellison, ceo of the tech company oracle is buying a 98% stake in lenni, known as the
4:59 am
pineapple island. it's the smallest publicly accessible island in the chain and also the least developed with just 30 miles of paved roads and no traffic lights. ellison is worth $36.5 billion. the sale price is estimated to be around $600 million. >> sounds like a bargain! >> can you imagine having your own little island in hawaii to go to any time? >> no, i can't. >> some day, richard. >> yeah, maybe. all right, stay with us. "news 4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. no relief from the oppressive heat. we could be in for a record-breaking day as communities around the area try to help you beat the heat. good morning. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm richard jordan filling in for aaron gilchrist. welcome to "news 4 today." it is thursday, june 21st. it is going to be a hot one, and some local governments can help you beat the heat during this mini heat

243 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on